


Making Connections

by TVgirll1971



Category: Whiskey Cavalier (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-24 18:47:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21862666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TVgirll1971/pseuds/TVgirll1971
Summary: All of his life, Jai's been told that he lacks the ability to make connections with people. But is that really true?
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Making Connections

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired to write this after reading chapter 28 of Inferno by Fiery Tribune. That chapter gave a detailed backstory of Jai & Frankie's friendship. I didn't use anything specific from that story (except one idea which I'll discuss at the end Notes), but after reading it, I really wanted to get inside Jai's head.

Jai didn't like being around people. He never did. Even as a child, his report cards always said "Doesn't play well with others." He didn't know why that was. He never knew how to talk to people. What was he supposed to talk about? Plus, most people didn't share his interests anyway. "Toys. You should be playing with other children. Not playing with silly gadgets." adults used to tell him when he was a child. But he liked those gadgets! They were easy to figure out. People were too complicated. If a gadget was working properly, it did what it was supposed to do. People were a whole other story. Sometimes they said one thing but meant another. A gadget had no expectations of how you were supposed to behave, no judgement. It was what it was. People, on the other hand, were messy. Sometimes literally.

Take Standish for instance. Really, how difficult is it to keep your work station clean? Jai's grandfather used to always say "Cleanliness is next to Godliness." and Jai believed that. It's nice to have everything in order. If everything is in its proper place then it's easier to find. Why make life difficult? But apparently, that didn't bother Standish. The man has no concept of order--at least at his workstation. It looked like a pigsty sometimes-- papers scattered willy nilly, food wrappings on the desk, because apparently it's too hard to get up and throw it away when you're done. Why would someone choose to live with that kind of chaos? The chaos extended past the physical. He had no concept of his limitations. Take the gun incident. Jai knew Standish had no formal gun training, but he insisted he needed a gun for protection. So, Jai gives him a gun--a miniature revolver, actually,--and Jai gets shot! Fine, he only got grazed but the damage to that suit was insurmountable! Plus, he has no boundaries. He always wants to see what Jai'ss doing and touch it! Jai learned a long time ago: when people touch your stuff, they break it.

Speaking of boundaries, Will and Susan are equally as guilty. Physically, no they don't invade his space. Theirs is more of an emotional invasion Does it really matter if he doesn't want to talk to people? He likes being alone. Is that so wrong? Why can't he just stand off to the side and watch people? Or better yet, just ignore them completely? Take SHEP. He always appreciated the fact that the government provides a supplemental party for those agents who are on assignment during the holiday season. Did he ever feel the need to actually attend one of those parties? No. But then Susan made this big deal about how he needs to bond with his fellow agents. Of course, she's not as bad as Will. Will actually has to pepper you with questions about your personal life. Really. A person can go years without knowing personal details of their colleagues' lives. Jai's done it! But no, Will Chase needs to know all the intimate details--where you're from, where did you go to school. Things that could easily be found in personnel records. Anything that can't be found, such as his favorite flavor ice cream, is not important or relevant. Not only does Wil feel the need to know about the team's personal history, he needs everyone to know his! Jai felt bad enough when Will had been taken captive, he did not need to hear his near-death bed testimony. Telling Jai what to tell his parents should he die-- doesn't he know how that would make him feel? This is exactly why he doesn't like to get attached to people. It just makes it that much harder when they die. Okay, granted. Will didn't die, thank goodness. But if he had, Jai would've had to travel to Indiana to give them Will's message.

Jai didn't know what was worse, Will regurgitating his life story or Ray having the nerve to pull a prank on him. People did not pull pranks on Jai. They kept their distance from him which his how he liked it. But no, this big oaf has the audacity to tell Jai that he isn't the smartest one on the team. What's worse is, Jai believed it. Why wouldn't he? Historically, no one has ever pulled a joke on Jai. Most people either didn't talk to him or kept their discussions professional. So, how would he even suspect Ray was pulling a joke on him? Especially not with Susan apparently backing him up.

No, Jai did not like people. He was closed off and did not form attachments. That's what he'd been told his whole life and what his experience told him was true. But was it?

Sure, there was Frankie but she was different. They'd been through a lot together at the CIA. They'd worked together for a decade, during some very stressful and dangerous missions. The level of trust they had in other another--it didn't just happen. It was forged through some very tumultuous circumstances. Besides, Frankie was like him--reserved emotionally. She didn't feel the need to be your friend the second she met you as opposed to the others. When it came to him not having friends, she was the exception, not the rule. Or so Jai thought. 

Take Standish. Yes, in the beginning he was extremely annoying to be around. However, he was also the first person Jai told about the reason behind his discomfort of babies and also why Emma's death hit him so hard. These were deeply personal things and yet he opened up to Standish. Maybe it was because they were both technical types, but somehow working in close proximity, they became friends. Best friends, really. Standish essentially became Robin to Jai's Batman. Heck, they got so close they had their own handshake. Jai still doesn't know how Standish convinced him to do that but not only did Jai learn it, he actually kind of liked it.

And Susan. Yes, sometimes her need for everyone to form connections was annoying, but she didn't judge him. True, she wanted him change but it's not because she thought he was defective. She just wanted him to be better. Plus, he had to admit that she did make sense. Jai told Standish once that he was afraid that no one would come to his funeral after he died. Well, who's going to come to his funeral if he doesn't make any friends when he's alive? Plus, she's fun to hang around with. He thought about that little "soap opera" they watched while undercover at the college. Jai never would've thought of watching the video feed just to observe the human interaction. Why would he? But Susan thought of it and, Jai had to admit, it was fun.

Getting back at Ray was also fun. Jai told him he'd get even. He didn't have a lot of experience pranking people (okay, he had none) but he found the perfect way. He remembered Susan approaching him when he was discreetly ordering the methamphetamines to line Ray's bag with. "What are you doing?" she asked. Jai told her, expecting her to tell him what a terrible idea that was and that it was over the line. Surprisingly, she loved it. So did Ray which was equally surprising.

Then there's Will who needed to hash out his life story even after being kidnapped and held captive. To be fair, Will didn’t know that Jai had planted a bug on him. He just starting unloading on the off chance that he had. Unfortunately for Jai, he had bugged Will. Listening to him talk about his family, his late brother—it was torture. Not because Jai didn’t care. It was the opposite. He did care. That’s why it was so hard to hear. Yes, he could’ve stopped listening. He could’ve walked out of the room and gotten one of the others to listen. But he couldn’t do that. As painful as it was to listen, he couldn’t just dismiss Will. Especially since there was a chance that he may have very well died. Luckily, he didn’t. Though grateful that Will was alive, Jai decided to get some revenge by giving Will what he wanted: Jai’s life story (complete with Bollywood music) in the middle of the night over comms.

Yes, had always been told that he lacked the ability to connect with people. Yet, in just under a year, here was a group of people that he did connect with. Was it immediate? No. Did he struggle against it? Yes. But it still happened. He bonded—he grew to like—every single one of these people.

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 28 of Inferno had a very perceptive line. "His whole life, everyone’s always told him that he’s terrible at friendships and intimacy and anything, really, that requires any semblance of emotion.." As I read that line, I realized that Jai's been working on an incorrect assumption. Throughout the series that he kept saying that he doesn't connect with people and yet he connected with everyone on the team fairly easily. So, he can connect. It's just that everyone has taken his reserved personality as an inability to connect and he's believed it.
> 
> Also, Jai & Frankie's tumultuous history that I alluded to is in reference to Chapter 28 of Inferno.


End file.
